SMU awards posthumous diploma to Dallas man killed by hit-and-run driver – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

As graduation season draws to a close, one North Texas family said the graduation they recently received is a bittersweet thought.

In May, Southern Methodist University posthumously awarded Jason Brown a master’s degree in computer science, weeks after he was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

“The person you love most is gone and there’s nothing you can do about it except miss him,” said Brown’s wife, Tiffany Brown.

This should have been the beginning of a new chapter for the Browns.

The couple had been married for three years after ten years of marriage, and Jason would soon graduate and begin a new career.

But on April 8^thThe 47-year-old went jogging near the couple’s apartment in North Dallas and never returned home.

“It kills me that someone just left him and didn’t take care of him. It’s just a void. He’s gone and there’s nothing I can do,” Brown said.

According to an accident report from the Department of Transportation (TXDOT), Jason was on a sidewalk along Spring Valley Road, near the corner of Montfort Drive, when the driver of a red Volkswagen Jetta jumped a curb, hit him and fled.

More than two months later, relatives say they are still waiting for a police arrest.

“I would say some days are better than others,” said Jason’s sister, Mia Luna.

Luna said Jason was happier than ever.

That day, he had celebrated with Tiffany and her family as they watched the eclipse and texted each other about their experiences.

In the next few days, he would have his degree in hand and be ready to start a long-awaited career in cybersecurity.

“He had a lot of trouble when he was younger, in high school and afterward. He suffered from paranoid schizophrenia,” she said. “It took a while, but he kept fighting and fighting and fighting. He thought, ‘I’ll just take a course here. I’ll take another course there.'” That never stopped him.

His family was incredibly proud.

So it was bittersweet when Jason received his posthumous diploma from SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering last month, just weeks after his death.

In a statement, KC Mmeje, SMU’s Vice President for Student Affairs, said:

“Jason was a good student and was close to graduating. Had he not died so young, he would have been celebrated among our graduates. Both the university and the Lyle School of Engineering were very supportive of the posthumous awarding of his degree. Given the circumstances of his death, it was the least we could do to show his family that he was a valued member of our community. Jason will always be a Mustang.”

“It was surreal,” Tiffany said. “A lot of the speeches were about the future and what to expect now that you’re done, you’ve put in all this time and what to look forward to. And I couldn’t help but think: He doesn’t understand.”

Although they will never know what his next chapter would have looked like, Brown and Luna tell his story as they wait for justice.

“I feel like Jason understood life, knew what it was about. And it was about loving and not giving up,” Tiffany said.

They hope it will inspire others to do the same.